In a first, medical entrance exam NEET will be conducted in Dubai this year, the Ministry of Education said on Thursday.
Announcing the new NEET-UG examination centre, the Education Ministry on Twitter wrote: "NEET (UG)-2021 exam centre has been created in Dubai in addition to the one already at Kuwait city."
The Education Ministry had earlier this month announced that for the first time the exam will be conducted in Kuwait to facilitate the Indian student community in the Middle East.
"The National Testing Agency (NTA) has decided to create one more centre city in Dubai in addition to the one already created at Kuwait city during the year 2021," HRD Secretary Amit Khare said in a letter to Foreign Secretary, Ministry for External Affairs.
"The Indian community in the Gulf countries may appropriately be informed about this. I would also be grateful if the Indian embassies in Kuwait and Dubai are advised to extend their full cooperation to the NTA in conduct of the exam in fair and secured manner," he added.
Recently, the Education Ministry has also introduced additional NEET UG examination centres in Tamil Nadu. Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan while announcing the additional NEET UG exam centres in Tamil Nadu said: ".. for the convenience of the students of Tamil Nadu, four cities -- Chengalpet, Virudhunagar, Dindigul and Tiruppur -- have been added to the list of places where NEET(UG) will be conducted."
NEET-UG to be held in 13 languages
The 13 languages, in which the test will be conducted this year are, Hindi, Punjabi, Assamese, Bengali, Odia, Gujarati, Marathi, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Tamil, Urdu and English. Among the languages, Punjabi and Malyalam are the new additions.
The NEET which was earlier scheduled on 1 August was postponed to 12 September.
The number of cities where the exam is conducted will be increased from 155 to 198. The number of examination centres will also be increased from 3,862 used last year.
In 2020, it was conducted on 13 September amid strict precautions in view of the coronavirus pandemic. A total of 13.66 lakh candidates had appeared in the exam of whom 7,71,500 qualified.
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